China is so big!!!!!! And the traffic moves so fast!

You have to just walk steady when your crossing the road and the cars, mopeds and bikes just go round you, and they toot all the time, but it just means - hey i'm coming up behind you to over-take you! So am slowly getting used to not turning and looking when I hear the horns beeping!

Jenny and I took a Chinese cooking course in Yongshuo, it was great fun! We went to the markets beforehand to get all the fresh veg, which was cool, but then we saw all the meat hanging up ready to be bought and even ready to be killed too! Dogs, cats, chickens, ducks, frogs, eels and some animals I didn't even recognise!

We also took a bike ride into the countryside of Yongshuo, so many rice paddys and farmers, everyone looking up at us as we cycled past! They even had an Ox in some fields ploughing, such hard labour and farmers in their 70's atleast!

Next was the cruise down the river Yangtze, which was great fun, a little bored on day 3 so glad to be getting onto dry land! Got some sunbathing time while going through the locks up the Three Gorges Dam, which was very impressive. We did a few trips off the ship during that time, the Shanngong Stream tour - being pulled up at stream by 3 men in a little boat to see the new city as the original had been flooded by the dam. I think a few people in our group were getting hungry, as the meals were banquets and they getting fed up seeing pigs ears dished up meal after meal! Good job I took some bananas and popcorn oh and some chocolate aboard!!

Had a taste of the over-night trains here in China too - smelly! well the cabins that we slept were ok, just the toilets and sinks were ...well we were glad of the tiger balm to put under our noses! The first over-nighter was a 'hard sleeper' so 3 bedded bunks, then the 'soft-sleeper' was just regular bunk beds. So the first train Jenny was practically sleeping in the roof!

Went to see the Giant Buddha today - not quite what I expected, but defenitley Giant! Not the brass statue that I had thought, you will all see the pictures soon!

Arrived at Baoguo Monestary this afternoon, it is very picturesque! I was expecting alot more basic! The buildings are amazing, we do a 5 hour hike tomorrow to another monestary up in the Emeishan hills, so will be snapping away with my camera for sure!

After that we head to Xi'an then Beijing for the Forbidden City and the Great Wall! Can't wait!

Hope all is good and will get some more pictures online soon!

Nics XX